BRUSSELS, November 25. /TASS/. NATO has been able to significantly step up production of Soviet weapons and ammunition that Ukraine needs in Eastern Europe, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday at a press conference ahead of a meeting of the alliance's Foreign Ministers on November 29-30 in Bucharest.

"What we’ve seen is that production has increased. Partly, NATO allies have been able to increase production of Soviet-era equipment and Soviet-era ammunition, which is extremely urgent and needed, because Ukraine still has a lot of Soviet-era artillery and they need ammunition, they need spare parts. Some [of] our members in the eastern part of the alliance, they have that production, that production facilities, and they have ramped up production," Stoltenberg said, responding to a question about Germany's refusal to deploy Patriot air defense systems in Ukraine.

"I met with many industry leaders last week and we discussed in detail how they can ramp up production. Of course, some of these increases can happen quickly, some have already taken place, others will require more time. Partly you can increase production by having more shifts, by utilizing existing production lines more, but, of course, sometimes there is a need for new production lines, new facilities, and that will require investments, and that naturally takes more time, but production has already increased. But, we need to even more [step up production], to also ensure more long-term investments in additional production lines," he said.